With custom made gears, there’s nearly unlimited potential for engineering applications. Traditional “spur” gears are some of the most common gears we produce, but they represent only a fraction of gears in the market. Worm gears, sometimes called a worm drive, is a special kind of gear that utilizes the movement of two very different … Continued

Gear engineering is about more than making sure two shapes of gears fit together. There are a number of functional considerations gear manufacturers need to bear in mind when designing gears for various applications. In addition to enabling the other components of the machine to operate as intended, we need to ensure the gears can … Continued

There are dozens of types of gears available, but some are more popular than others. For example, you’ve undoubtedly heard of a spur gear, which is the most traditional and recognizable gear in the industry. And even if you can’t picture helical gears or bevel gears by name, you’d recognize them to see them because … Continued

If you know anything about gear manufacturing, you’re probably somewhat familiar with hobbing. But if you’re new to the game, it may sound like a strange term. Hobbing is an important machining process that allows manufacturers like Federal Gear to cut precision gears from raw materials. It’s one of the most widely used techniques for … Continued

Historically, gears have been made from metals, metal alloys, or in some cases, varieties of plastic. Gear materials need to fulfill a wealth of conditions simultaneously, which makes them hard to come by. Materials need to be hard, but also malleable and cuttable to allow precision in the manufacturing process, and also need to be … Continued

3D printing is a relatively new technology that’s starting to take over the world. Now in the hands of manufacturers and consumers alike, 3D printing simplifies the engineering process, enabling for faster prototyping and greater precision when creating everything from machine parts to statuettes. But could modern 3D printing be used to make gears? Materials … Continued

Gears look like they run perfectly smoothly; after all, they’re designed to. Gears are supposed to tightly interlock and drive each other without much resistance or additional components within a system. However, most gears need some kind of lubricant to keep running smoothly, and your choice of lubricant could play a major role in your … Continued

Gears are such a common simple machine that it’s hard to think there was ever a time before they were used. But just like the wheel or any other man-made invention, gears had a starting point, and a course of evolution over thousands of years that have led to their current state today. It’s hard … Continued

Gears don’t last forever, but under the right conditions, they could end up lasting a very, very long time. Different gears have different lifespans, and of course, how you create and treat a gear will affect how long it lasts. Over time, structural inefficiencies or normal wear and tear could chip away at the gear’s … Continued

When manufacturing gears, you have to think about backlash. No, we’re not talking about a wave of people who vocally disagree with the gear manufacturing process or retaliation for some kind of event. In the engineering world, backlash refers to both a naturally occurring error in motion when gears move, and the gap between gears … Continued